"The Language of [the California Invasion of Privacy Act] Is a Total Mess," Which Gets "Bigger as the World Continues to Change"

From Judge Vince Chhabria's opinion Friday in Doe v. Eating Recovery Center LLC (N.D. Cal.):

The California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) was enacted in 1967 to criminalize wiretapping and eavesdropping on confidential communications. Although it is a criminal statute, CIPA also authorizes victims to bring civil actions against those who violate the statute, allowing recovery of civil penalties of $5,000 per violation or three times the amount of actual damages—whichever is greater. See Cal. Penal Code § 637.2(a).

The language of CIPA is a total mess. It was a mess from the get-go, but the mess gets bigger and bigger as the world continues to change and as courts are called upon to apply CIPA's already-obtuse language to new technologies. Indeed, we have reached the point where it's oft